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Charlotte

For Charlotte, life had suddenly become easier. Grandma’s passing had left a massive void in her life, not to mention setting her back at work, leaving her with a mountain of sorting out to do, and a dog to find a friend for. All of a sudden, everything seemed to be neatly slotting back into place. She had managed to catch up at school, she had found Clive to help with Harry, a couple of Grandma’s friends had come over on Sunday afternoon to help her sort out some of Grandma’s things, and there was Jacob.

Jacob, Jacob, Jacob.

She had told Kelly on the phone that Jacob had stayed the night, and Kelly, being Kelly, had taken some convincing before she would believe that absolutely nothing had happened, that the only person Jacob had even kissed had been Harry, and that had been by no intention on his part. Charlotte wasn’t jealous at all. Well, maybe just a little bit.

When he had got up to leave, everything had felt natural. He hadn’t wanted to overstay his welcome; she didn’t want to appear needy or clingy. He had hugged her, and she had waited, but the kiss had never come. At first, she had felt disappointed, but in retrospect, she was happy about it. It made the anticipation all the greater. Kelly—who had a lot more experience—always claimed the first kiss was the best, that you should wait as long as possible. Charlotte was in no hurry, and there was enough chemistry between them that it was only a matter of time.

Alone, though, she had started to let the doubts creep in. What if he cooled on her? What if he had seen something he didn’t like, like how many shoes she had, the way she dressed, how tidy she kept the house?

And of course, there was the secret. Kelly told her it was stupid, that no one would care, but it had derailed every one of her previous relationships, mostly because they had begun at some other point of the year, and she had waited until Christmas came around before letting it slip. Jacob seemed nice now, but how would he feel when she told him what she really believed about Christmas? Would he drop her?

No one got it. No one understood.

The next time she was expecting to see Jacob was at the children’s home on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, Kelly stopped over for coffee after work.

‘Come on, Charlotte, he’s completely besotted with you. You could tell him you’ve got a unicorn in your closet that you ride across the moors at midnight and he’d probably say something like, “Oh, how cute. Can I come next time?’’’

‘You think so?’

‘Just tell him, get it over with. He probably won’t break up with you. Like me, he’ll probably just accept your delusion for what it is.’

‘It’s not a delusion. It’s real.’

Kelly gave her that condescending smile that she always did when the subject came up. ‘You don’t always have to have the same beliefs,’ she said. ‘I mean, it’s a personal thing, isn’t it? Although, of course, some are more realistic than others.’

‘Don’t make fun of me.’

Kelly sighed. ‘I’m not, Charlotte. I love you exactly the way you are, and it doesn’t matter to me what you do or what you believe, as long as you don’t become a serial killer or start dressing as a frog and hopping everywhere when we go out. I’m pretty loose on my boundaries, but there are a couple out there.’

‘How about on Halloween?’

‘The frog suit would be totally acceptable then.’

‘Great.’

‘Talking about Halloween … have you heard anything from you know who?’

Charlotte sighed. ‘He sent me a couple of messages. I don’t know what to do. He said he’s looking forward to seeing me again.’

‘And what did you say?’

‘I didn’t say anything.’

‘Oh, Charlotte. You must be careful not to lead him on. He knows where you live, doesn’t he?’

‘Yes.’

‘That wasn’t clever.’

‘I know; it was just easier.’

‘I stalked him online a couple of days ago. According to his website, he’s got a European tour starting in January, lasting right until the spring. If you can just keep your head down until after Christmas, he’ll be out of here.’

‘That’s a little underhand, isn’t it?’